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1 Classic Controller, Wii Points Card, and 5 Wii and DS Titles

This the August 2008 issue of Nintendo Power, the 231st. Rumors of the 1988 issue's cover being updated as this month's cover were proven false when viewers received the issue and saw the cover had MadWorld on it, and a 20th Anniversary bar at the top.

Contents

Cover Story

Nintendo Power spoke to PlatinumGames for their preview of MadWorld. The game was unveiled to an ecstatic reaction during an event announcing a partnership between PlatinumGames and Sega. MadWorld, at its core, is a brutally violent video game. The world that it is set in is completely black and white, with the color red being a prominent factor. As Jack (the main protagonist), you must participate in a game show called Death Watch. The object of Death Watch is to take down opponents in the most creative and unusual ways you can think of. Jack can use stuff around him at his disposal and can also buy weapons from armories throughout the game. The weapon that stays with him is a chainsaw connected to his arm. This chainsaw can be used both in a normal attack and in a finishing move.

Humor is a big part of this game. Violence is meant to be excessive and over the top to the point that it's funny. "We don't want this game to be dark and serious," said Atsushi Inaba, the game's producer. His team has specifically aimed to make MadWorld a game with constant action and unbelievable violence, more likely to cause laughter rather than cringing. "It's not realistic," said Inaba, "Nothing like this would ever happen in real life, which is what games should be offering to the audience." The team wanted the violence to appear unrealistic without it looking cartoon-ish, so they explored visual styles until they toned down the colors to where it was just black and white. The red blood color remained as a unique feature that stands out from everything else (Inaba admitted, though, that Frank Miller's Sin City graphic novels contributed to the game's vision and felt that moving through a 3-D Sin City "seemed very exciting").

The article also included a profile of PlatinumGames and their thoughts of what they look for when partnering with a video game publisher.

Trivia

Beyond Good & Evil placed number 11 on the Best of the Best list for the GameCube, and the magazine stated that it had "the greatest female protagonist in video game history". This is despite that numerous Metroid games, featuring Samus Aran, topped most of the Best of the Best lists.